The Possession
by elainefelicity
Summary: When Damon is unexpectedly killed, Stefan goes to his own personal Hell to get him back.
1. Chapter 1

Elena Gilbert reached her arm across the bed. Expecting to feel a warm presence beside her she was surprised when the bed was cold and empty.

"Stefan?" she murmered half asleep.

Gazing in the direction of the bathroom she came up empty again. Wrapping herself in the sheet she got out of bed and padded out to the hallway.

"Morning roomie," Damon smirked, dressed in his usual black attire he cut a fine figure. Elena pushed that thought out of her head. She had tried to halt the flirty current but so far nothing had worked.

"Is Stefan around?" she asked. "Have you seen him?"

Damon turned his pockets inside out and peered underneath an end-table.

"Nope, not under there," he remarked.

"Hilarious." She went back into the bedroom and dressed**.** It was only when she took a second look at the pillows she saw the note. Stefan had scrawled a message reading: _"Didn't want to wake you. Gone to the grill. Meet me there? S"_

When she went downstairs Damon was sipping coffee with a grace that only he could pull off. Elena shrugged her bag onto her shoulder and headed towards the grand front door.

"Bye, Damon".

He needed no words and replied simply by tipping her a nod.

She found Stefan safe and well sitting in the grill exactly where his note had said.

"You abandoned me for a journal?" she scolded jovially.

Stefan placed his pen down and planted a kiss on her lips. He tasted luscious. She sat back and her eyes drifted to the lonesome figure of Tyler Lockwood. She suddenly felt bad for their public display of affection. It was common knowledge that his latest break-up wasn't treating him well. Of course, Tyler being Tyler, he tried to hide it. Elena had known him long enough to see his pain though. She threw him an apologetic glance.

* * *

Still at home, Damon looked at the cup in his hand and back to the thing floating towards him.

"Damn. What's in this drink?"

He got up, figuring that any unidentifiable object should be avoided. He'd only ever seen similar things when on acid trips in the distant past. The floating-orb-thing started to expand at an alarming rate. Its presence started to have a paralysing effect on not only body but mind. Identity, memories, feelings and soul left Damon and slowly became part of the surroundings. What was left behind was an empty vessel. A vessel for the taking. The orb had transformed into a full fledged apparition. It stepped into the empty body and drew a gasping breath.

"Finally!" it uttered, testing its new vocal cords

* * *

Had Tyler not noticed the concealed stake behind Damon Salvatore's back Stefan may have been dead by this point. He knew the Salvatore siblings had a love-hate reationship but nobody expected what happended next:

Damon approached the table his brother sat at, stake behind his back, and fixed him with an unreadable stare.

"What's your problem?" Stefan said.

"Stefan Salvatore?" Damon said, with an inflection that made his statement sound like a question.

Tyler watched as Elena put her hand on the older Salvatore's arm. Was something going down between the brothers, he wondered? Were they once again at war instead of the great allies they had become? The bitter only-child in him cheered at this potential development. The stake was somewhat bothersome though. Tyler started rising to his feet.

"Last time I checked." Stefan replied, "What's wrong with you?

"You killed my father!"

The werewolf barely got there in time. He launched himself at Damon pushing him away. The stake was now mere centimetres from Stefan's heart. The closest a stake had ever come. Elena's gasp was echoed by the by-standers in the grill. While Elena pulled the stake out of Stefan's chest, Tyler attempted to subdue Damon.

"Dude!" he yelled. "What's gotten into you."

Summoning all of his strength he took a swing. The punch broke bone when it landed. His biggest surprise came when he discovered that his punch had knocked the vampire out cold. It wasn't even full moon...


	2. Chapter 2

"Nice punch Tyler..." Elena said. Still freaked out, Tyler nodded his acceptance of the compliment. Elena pulled the stake out of Stefan which was followed by a blood-curdling yell. Nobody heard Rebekah and Klaus enter The Mystic Grill, everyone too interested in the events of the last five minutes.

"Oh dear..." Rebekah said, revelling in the new-found drama they'd stumbled on.

"Sister, behave," Klaus warned.

"Is this your doing?" Elena sniped venonously.

Klaus feigned hurt and told her in no uncertain terms he had known nothing about the mysterious attack. Stefan gingerly sat up and looked down at his still out-cold 'brother'.

"What did you hit him with?" he asked Tyler.

"My fist. I had to do something, man. He was going to kill and who knows who else!"

Stefan held his hand up, looked Tyler in the eye and thanked him from the bottom of his heart.

"You saved my life,"

Tyler averted his gaze, awkwardly. He wasn't comfortable with the gratitude being a hero yielded.

"Aww, such a beautiful moment and far be it from me to ruin it but why does he have a black eye?" Rebekah asked while her brother compelled all the bystanders to leave the building a forget what they'd just witnessed.

Stefan shook Damon by the shoulder and he too noticed the rapidly blossoming bruise.

"It should have healed. Damon, get up!"

For the presence occupying Damon's body this wasn't how things were supposed to turn out. It was supposed to be a swift movement. He had possessed a vampire for goodness sake. He just wished he'd realised the vampire powers didn't come with body. Wherever Damon Salvatore was they weren't doing him any good. He flickered the body's eyelids open.

"Stefan..." was all he could manage.

"Have you lost your mind?" Elena said, "You almost killed Stefan!"

"I think that was the idea," Stefan ventured.

"How can you be so calm?" Elena asked him, "I thought you two had made peace with the whole patricide thing?"

"We had," Stefan said in 'Damon's' direction.

Klaus got down on his knees and gazed into 'Damon's' eyes.

"What are you?"

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked.

"Stefan," Rebekah said reading her brother's mind. "Ask him something only Damon would know."

Stefan had a feeling he knew where they were going with this, "At father's birthday celebration what was it that you spiked his drink with to get him to have a good time?"

"I'm not playing this game, Stefan."

"You will answer me." Stefan shook him so hard it nearly gave the body whip-lash. The last thing the spirit wanted to do was find another one. He had no option but to attempt an answer.

"Whiskey. I put whiskey in his drink. I figured it would liven the old man up a little."

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Damon?" Stefan snapped. Klaus had a smug 'told you so' look on his face and Tyler and Elena were just perplexed.

"I take it that was the wrong answer," Tyler ventured.

"My father never had birthday celebrations. Had no sense of fun, my old man."

"How would I know what Dad was like, Stefan? You killed him before I ever got to know him. All I was ever good for was continuing the family name."

Stefan sat back dejected and noticed Elena's dropped jaw.

"Everybody, meet Zachariah Salvatore. The half brother."

* * *

Damon's form had returned to resembling normal. His tie to the body he used to own was strong enough to lead him to it.

"Son of a Bitch!" he muttered. "Zachariah..."

Stefan's face suddenly took on its rage expression.

"Stefan... Don't. Don't do it,"

Not hearing his older brother's pleas Stefan broke Zachariah's neck. Zachariah was finally dead but now Damon had nothing to go back into. He was as good as dead too.

"Nooooo!" He cried, "You did not just do that. Stefan!"

* * *

Klaus winced.

"Shouldn't've done that, mate."

"What? Zachariah's gone," He said.

"I'm sorry, Stefan." Rebekah said. "We would've warned you not to do it but you were too quick."

Elena's heart was thumping like a drum-beat in her chest. Tyler's too. Stefan's panicked face was too much for Rebekah to take. The notion of what was about to happen was her worst nightmare. She couldn't bare to watch another lose a sibling. The body that used to be Damon took the grey tint of a dead vampire. Stefan lost his mind...

**Keep reading, people. :-) . Cheers for the reviews so far. As always they keep me motivated. E X**


	3. Chapter 3

"I want that ring, Liz,"

Liz Forbes looked around at the congregated mourners and made a mental note that Stefan Salvatore was nowhere to be seen. Elena clung to Tyler Lockwood who's stoic expression never let him down. From what she understood they both witnessed Damon's death hence they turned to each other for support. Other than those who were there that day the town was a little vague on the details. Nobody believed his death was an accident, especially now that Stefan had gone off the grid.

"What could you possibly want with it,"

"Like it or not, Liz, the Salvatores are a founding family. That ring has the family crest and is a piece of this town. Its a treasure to the historical society."

At moments like this the sheriff figured arguing with the bull-headed town mayor was a futile exercise. Liz was used to doing the town's dirty work. She would later open the coffin and prize the ring off of her friend's cold dead finger.

* * *

Long after the town's people had left the cemetary the dusk had set the clouds alight with pink fire.

"I wish I had you're guidance right now. It was an accident, I didn't mean it." Stefan's voice started to crack and tears burned in his eyes. "I can't say goodbye."

"Not the grave I thought I'd find you at," Elena said from the shadows.

"I can't look at my brother's tombstone, Elena. If I do then it means its real. It means he's really dead."

She took his hand,"Stefan, look at me. We'll get through this."

He pulled his hand out of her's violently.

"No, Elena, that's not going to work this time. The soft approach won't cut it," He snapped.

At one time he'd have felt bad for putting the look of hurt that was now on her face, but now things had changed.

"Damon's always been there. Even when we were apart I knew he was there. I missed him like my right arm despite hating him with every fibre. Why? Because he was my brother. My big brother. So, no you don't understand Elena. I'm alone in this!"

With that, he disappeared in a blur through the woods. He was trying to escape from himself, from his guilt. There was only one way that was going to happen. Elena knew it was only a matter of time until the pain became unbearable and his humanity switch was set in the off position.

She looked down at Giuseppe Salvatore's grave, "I'm glad you're not around to see this."

* * *

That night was the last night Elena saw Stefan. She had lost both Salvatore brothers and hadn't the chance to say goodbye to either. She tried her best to reach Stefan but her friends eventually pulled her back to Mystic Falls, able to see what she wouldn't; Stefan wasn't coming back to her. Klaus and Rebekah eventually lost interest in Mystic falls and rumbled out-of-town, a stark contrast to the way they had thundered into it. The boarding house sat empty and those who knew and even loved its former occupants could barely face looking at it. The place eventually became the subject of legend. New vampires and wannabes rocked into town simply wishing to hear stories of the way things used to be.

* * *

Nancy Hart was almost knocked out by the psychic energy Stefan was projecting when he walked into her New Orleans shop. He started perusing her stock, particularly the small amount of black magic items she had. He appeared to her as a truly lost soul.

"Can I help you, baby?" she asked.

He was in her face with a speed that could only be paranormal. She knew what he was. She had seen this man in dreams. His face had haunted her childhood. She had ceased being terrified and just peacefully accepted that this moment would arrive in its own sweet time.

"I don't know. Can you help me?"

"I know what you're here for. You wish to raise the dead."

Stefan was genuinely surprised. He hadn't even considered the idea.

"Actually I was looking for revenge. Only problem is the person I'm hunting is already dead."

Causing as much pain and suffering to Zachariah had been his main aim in life. That, and drinking his fill of human blood. Now, Nancy had put another idea in his head.

"There are ways of doing that..." she replied cryptically.

"Okay, next question. How does one go about raising the dead? Lets just say you've given me ideas."

Nancy was frightened now. She shouldn't have said anything. She knew Stefan would be expecting her to have information she did not possess. He would kill her when she failed to provide it. Stefan considered her for a second, absorbed the information he'd been given and deemed it unworthy. As in her visions, the vampire broke the old lady's neck there and then.

"Were you telling me the truth, Nancy?" he asked the newly created corpse.

His revenge mission was over. He had different plans now.


	4. Chapter 4

Last time Bonnie had dreamt of her ancestor, Emily, it hadn't preceded happy times. Now, she was a different witch. Life had jaded her. Her friends had their own lives. Nothing bonded them together anymore. Once upon a time Caroline and Elena had been her sisters. Caroline had left town completely now. She'd gone to college, of all places, to study something like fashion design. Shallow, that one. As for Elena, her and Tyler had formed a strong kinship after the destruction of the Salvatore brothers. They had witnessed 'the event' after all. She'd heard an engagement had been announced. Bonnie failed to care. The one thing Bonnie still had in her life was her magic and that was stronger than ever. Emily no longer had Bonnie wrapped around her finger.

"This isn't how things should have been..." Emily kept telling her.

Bonnie would wake up each time with one question on her lips; what am I supposed to do about it?

One particular night, things changed. Bonnie was no longer in her own bed. She awoke in the twilight of the early hours and felt grass tickle her cheek. The chill in the air bit her bones. She found herself at the grave of Damon Salvatore.

"What the hell?" She said not sure what surprised her the most; the fact she had awoken in a cemetary or on Damon's grave? Emily offered a hand from above her. Her ghostly figure loomed and as Bonnie took her hand Emily said, "Find the ring."

* * *

Bonnie watched from across the street as Elena kissed Tyler on the lips possessivly. Bonnie never thought she'd ever be the one to say it but things were wrong. Emily was right. As Tyler wrapped his fiancée in his arms it occurred to Bonnie how everything in Mystic Falls had become so normal. It was very Stepford. Creepy. She missed the Salvatores.

When she arrived at the boarding house it was preserved as a museum. The historical society deemed it an important piece of the past. Well, if the historical society said so then it must be true, she thought sourly. Bonnie failed to see why the house had been locked up tight. Why not show it to the visiting tourists? It had been home to vampires, that's why. The house must be viewed from afar. The council had agreed on that the day they knew Stefan wasn't returning. Who knew what an unknowing history buff may stumble upon in that place.

One twig and an incantation later she had opened the locked door. She stepped though the threshold aware that she may be the first person in the boarding house since Stefan Salvatore had abandoned it. The place was like the Marie Celeste. A cup sat on the table containing mould which had previously been coffee. Stefan's bedroom had an unmade bed. Belongings littered the place. People left their stamp on homes and seemed so did vampires. Bonnie found the whole situation truly sad. However, none of it gave it her any idea of how to proceed. Bonnie was about to leave and give herself a shaking for being so sentimental when she saw a rather good reason to stay standing in the library...

* * *

"You're a mess, old friend," Klaus said, as Stefan finished killing his latest witch.

"What do you want?" He asked wiping blood off of his hands onto his t-shirt.

"You're making a name for yourself," Klaus replied. He looked down at the dead witch, she had been beautiful in life. "What have the witches done to upset you, Stefan?"

"They won't give me what I want!" he screamed, knocking a chair across the room. Klaus just stood, fearing nothing.

"What do you want, Stefan? What will mend that tortured soul? Or should that be _who_ will mend that tortured soul?" He asked a teasing note to his tone.

"You know what I want, Klaus. Why torment me?"

The clock ticked in the momentary silence and Klaus' footfalls started towards Stefan. The only surviving Salvatore stood his ground. His face was inches from Stefan's.

"Say it, friend." Klaus said menacingly.

Stefan's fist connected with Klaus' face painfully. Once recovered, Klaus smiled and then yelled, "Say it!"

"Fine, I want my brother back. Happy?" Stefan shouted, "You were there that day, Klaus. Why do you need me to say it!"

"Because you need to admit it. You need to hear yourself say it and truly understand how much you need him in your life, even as someone to hate."

"I miss him, Klaus." Stefan sunk down onto the sofa, defeated, "I have no idea how to get him back. There isn't a way, is there? That's what you came here to tell me isn't it?"

Klaus feigned a looked hurt. Had Stefan Salvatore underestimated him? Him? Like a flash of lightning he picked Stefan by the collar of his t-shirt and threw him across the room. Stefan landed in a crumpled heap as a few dislodged fragments of plaster rained on him from the wall. Klaus picked Stefan up once more and bent his right arm painfully behind him.

"What's you're problem? Can't you just leave me to my own tortured existence?" Stefan groaned.

Klaus let him go and Stefan rubbed his painful shoulder. He noticed something missing. Klaus had a triumphant look on his face.

"Give me my ring back, Klaus."


	5. Chapter 5

The apparition sure did look like Damon, Bonnie thought. It had the same smile and those soul splitting blue eyes.

"You're dead," she stated.

Her blood ran cold in the boarding house at the best of times but her bones chilled as she stood there. She didn't quite know what to say to the spirit of the elder Salvatore. What could one say to a ghost who's brother had inadvertantly killed him in an attemt to disposess him?

"Yeah," he sighed. "Miss me?"

"Things are different in Mystic Falls now," She replied.

A triumphant smirk spread across his face, "That'd be a yes then. I missed you too, my judgy friend. Why wait until now to visit?"

"I haven't always been able to see ghosts, Damon. Only now it seems."

"Oh liar, liar. That's not true, there was a time when we could all see ghosts!"

The memory made Bonnie feel nostalgic for the good old days, and she finally admitted, "It is good to see you, Damon."

* * *

"Nik, give him his bloody ring back and stop being so cryptic!"

Rebekah, beautiful as ever, swept through the door. She tenderly touched Stefan's cheek but there was always something frightening about the Original Sister. She captivated him and could temporarily make his problems vanish. Temporarily.

"Sister, Stefan and I were having a little fun. Isn't that right?" Klaus reached out for Stefan's hand and pulled him to his feet. Stefan growled at him, irritated.

"The key to what you want, Stefan, is in Damon's ring," Rebekah blurted out, "Now wasn't that easier than beating around the bush?

"What? How?"

* * *

"My ring?" Damon asked, "That's long gone. Buried deep in Carol Lockwood's museum of a house."

Bonnie was quite shocked, "I thought Stefan buried you with it?"

Damon's face changed. It was the look right before he'd suck the life blood from someone's carotid artery. Of course, he could no longer do that, and despite herself Bonnie felt sorry for him. The irony of it was that Damon used to be so full of life. He never seemed to let a minor hitch like being undead get in his way.

"He did. And then my good friend Sheriff Forbes pried it off of my corpse' finger," he told her. "I guess Carol was too squemish to do the dirty work herself."

Bonnie was horrified.

"Why should I care though? I'm dead right? Cursed to walk the corridors of my abandoned house forever more. Ugh, can't even get to the good alcohol because my hands just pass right on through the bottle," he said. "Anyway, I digress. What witchy-woo spell are you going to screw up using my old ring? I mean you can't possibly make my situation anymore tragic, can you?"

Bonnie hesitated, she had no idea. She was working on a thready instruction from a dead ancestor. Information in the past hadn't exactly been forthcoming. Why should that be different now? For all she knew it could just be to put his spirit to rest or perhaps something much bigger. Damon just bitterly laughed when she told him about her lack of information and direction. It was an icy-cold sound that she didn't like. It told Bonnie one thing; he'd given up.

* * *

"Every witch I tried to beg, torture and seduce information out of ended up dead because they couldn't tell me how to bring Damon back. They couldn't tell me how to change the past. Why should I believe you? You're just messing with my mind. I know you."

Klaus shrugged his shoulders, "Don't shoot the messeger, mate. I'm just a man who knows a thing or two about daylight rings."

"Our mother was The Original Witch, Stefan. She possessed a bit more knowledge than your garden variety witch." Rebekah told him. "Did you really think she didn't pass some of it on to her darling daughter... before the whole vampire thing, of course."

Stefan started backing out of the door not taking his eyes off the siblings. He slipped his ring back onto his finger where it belonged.

"Think about it, Stefan. Bring Damon back and thats not the only thing you change. The fair Elena could still be in your arms." Klaus said.

"You're crazy. Both of you."

Later on, Stefan was well on his way to drinking himself into a stupor when the thought hit him. It was something Rebekah said earlier; garden variety witches. He had left Mystic Falls behind and everyone in it but back there was a witch most certainly not of the garden variety. For the first time in a long time his soul filled with hope and his heart swelled with optimism.

**Sorry about the lack of updates, people. Hope you enjoyed chapter 5. Please let me know what you think. E :-)**


	6. Chapter 6

"What can I do but give up, Bonnie?" Damon complained, "I'm stuck here!"

The truth was, at this point, Bonnie was running on intuition. She had no clear idea of how to proceed but she knew they had to get Stefan back to Mystic Falls. Bonnie's lightbulb moment eventually came when she stopped feeling sorry for Damon and began to channel the powerful witch that she was.

"Possess Stefan?" Damon laughed at the ridiculous suggestion like it was a bad joke.

"I'm serious. I can cast a spell that can let you enter Stefan's body. It'll give you enough time to bring him back to Mystic Falls."

"Enter Stefan's body? That sounds vaguely rude..."

Bonnie was on a run so ignored the snarky comment, "Damon, come on. Between us we can make things right. Don't ask me how but I know we're just meant to. Elena's not meant to be married to Tyler, Stefan's not meant to be lost and you're not meant to be a ghost. Think of how good it would be to have a body again."

What Damon hadn't told Bonnie was that the bloodlust was still with him every day of every year. Borrowing someone's body would mean being able to feed again. That was the most tempting idea he'd heard in a very long time.

As if reading his mind Bonnie picked up an unusually sharp letter opener on the table and pricked her finger. She saw the reddening around Damon's eyes and the teeth that had sunk into so many necks.

"See? You're a still vampire, Damon. Help me make things right."

"You can really do this?"

Bonnie smiled triumphantly, "Oh yeah..."

* * *

Stefan had been driving through the dark for hours, just listening to the engine of the car and the wind rushing past. When his brother's voice said his name he nearly lost control of the wheel.

"Trust me, Stef."

Stefan shrugged and shook his head.

"I'm going crazy," he muttered to himself.

"Oh brother, that happened a long time ago," the voice drawled, again within his head.

Stefan started feeling dizzy. Before he realised what was happening he could feel Damon's presence all around him. In the car, in the air, even within him. It was the most perculiar sensation. Feeling Damon so vividly just served to remind Stefan how much he missed him. It was like torment.

"Aww, I'm touched little bro."

Stefan slammed on the brakes and skidded the car to the roadside, "Stop it! Stop tormenting me!"

Stefan didn't feel his presence ebbing away as Damon took him over. It was a happy release from the guilt, suffering and pain.

Damon took a gasp of breath using the borrowed lungs and patted the body up and down relishing how solid it was.

"Well its not mine but it'll do in a pinch." He could hear the voice as his own and the face in the rear-view mirror was his but to the outside world he was still Stefan Salvatore.

* * *

Damon sunk Stefan's teeth into the man's neck. The youthful, warm blood filled his mouth and the sensation was euphoric. The absence of blood in his life had indeed made him keener. He savoured the magical feeling until the man went limp in his arms. The young man's pink cheeks were now pale and his lips blue, there was no coming from that.

"Sorry man. Nothing personal," he said, letting the body drop to the floor and wandered off in the direction of another beating heart.

Once the night of blood and debauchery had ended Damon got back to his senses. Mystic Falls awaited and the sooner he got Stefan back there the sooner he could get back to his normal living self. Walking to the car he passed a man clad in a priest's clothing. The man looked at him and visibly recoiled.

"You are an abomination..." he said, stepping into Damon's path. About to physically move him out of the way, Damon raised his hand. However, he never got as far as to even question who the man was when in an explosion of blood and pain he was shot through the spinal cord. Stefan's legs went limp and no longer claimed to be part of the body. The gunman had come from behind and was now standing over him as he lay in a pool of Stefan's blood.

"Damon? Is that you in there? Taking a leaf out of my body-lending handbook are we?"

"Zachariah!"


	7. Chapter 7

Even though the skin wasn't his, Damon still felt the burn of his half brother's knife. A vampire's senses were heightened anyway, but at the moment even a drip of water was more Decibels that normal. Unfortunately the rule held true of the pain Zachariah was inflicting. The abandoned factory building he was being held in was dark and damp but to Damon it was a cacophany of sensation.

"What's your angle?" he asked Zachariah's companion, while fiddling with the vervain ropes around his wrists. The man didn't reply so Damon turned to Zachariah.

"He's what some may call a hunter. He kills all manner of otherworldly beings for a living. Can you believe that, brother?"

It was the last part that riled Damon up, "you do not get to call me that. You are related to me because father screwed some whore and made the best of a bad situation. You are only a Salvatore because Stefan and I were turned!"

That comment should have earnt a whole raft of pain but instead hurt crossed Zachariah's face in a millisecond. As stormy turmoil of sadness waved in Zachariah, Damon felt a stirring of power within. He realised at that moment where his heightened power had come from. Stefan was repressed under Damon's possession but consciously or not his power was combining with Damon's in a time of danger.

"Nobody messes with Stefan but me."

His hands were up and around Zahariah's neck before anyone could blink.

"You can't kill me. I will return. I thought you'd understand me. You used to hate Stefan. I guess humanity really does make a vampire weak," Zachariah croaked.

"You bore me," Damon said.

Before being able to snap Zachariah's neck, a wooden stake passed into Stefan's body from behind. The silent, apparently useless hunter had finally come into fruition. Stefan's heart burst open and life-giving blood leaked out. He let go of Zachariah and crumpled to the floor. Before Damon gave in completely he saw the burst of light as the factory doors opened. Someone or something came in. Friend or foe he hadn't a clue. It didn't really matter now.

* * *

When Damon awoke he figured Stefan and himself to be in some afterlife dreamworld. Stefan was nowhere to be seen though. The noises around him were as intense as ever. Someone nearby was in the throes of death. Damon listened as they breathed their last. He could smell spilled blood and feel the all too real soggy shirt he was wearing. Soggy from where a wooden stake had pierced Stefan's heart. He groaned and tentatively rolled over. His movement had attracted attention. Footsteps started towards him.

"Well you are an interesting creation, aren't you?" a masculine voice stated.

Elijah Mikaelson extended his hand in aid. Damon eyed him suspiciously.

"I made a promise to protect you once. I was around and it seemed you needed aid. You should show me some gratitude, Damon."

Zachariah and the hunter were both dead and heartless. Damon glanced at them.

"Zachariah is vengeful. He'll be back before long," he said.

Elijah pointed out that the two for one deal Damon and Stefan had was what kept them alive. It seemed at this point he was unstoppable. Then Damon remembered that Bonnie'spell had a limit. He only had a few hours to get Stefan back to Virginia before he was locked back in the boarding house. Hastily taking his leave he got in the car and floored it back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

Despite the ordeal of the last few days Stefan had no recollection of what had happened. He realised his consciousness had been taken over but for the time being he had no idea who by. He sat upright and brushed away the grass that was stuck to his face. He always thought the sight he was presented with would send him crazy. Although now he was faced with his older brother's grave stone he came to an acceptance he never thought possible. Stefan heard a rustling in the leaves behind him. Turning, he saw a face he once considered as the most beautiful in the world.

"Elena Gilbert." He smiled, bitterly missing times that had passed.

"Its actually Elena Lockwood now,"

"Did you put that there?" Stefan asked pointing to the long-stemmed rose on the grave.

Elena nodded. "Someone had to."

Stefan sighed. " I couldn't face things but now I know for some reason I have to. I was brought here by something. Someone."

Her face was set hard and now warmth was in her expression. "You turned your back, Stefan. I wanted to help you."

Stefan recalled the moment she was talking about. She was right. He'd been a mess.

"I miss him, Elena," he admitted. "I was desperate before but now I know I have to be smart. I can bring my brother back."

She smiled for the first time. "You need to speak with Bonnie. She's been working on your side longer that you know."

"Where is she? Tell me where Bonnie is."

"Here," Bonnie announced.

Stefan could feel the power radiating off of the young witch.

"We need Damon's ring," she said "But Stefan, there's something you don't know."

Stefan was alarmed. "What's wrong?"

Elena and Bonnie looked at each other. It was Elena who told him the bad news.

"Damon is no longer buried with his ring. My mother-in-law stole it on the night he was buried."


	8. Chapter 8

"Why?! Why did she take it, Elena? I'm going to kill her," Stefan said maniacally.

Words failed her. She mumbled something about the historical society. Tears sprung from her eyes.

"Why are you always crying?" he snapped.

"Guys. Focus!" Bonnie stepped in between the former lovers.

Stefan knew she was right. To get things done, patience was a virtue. Anger, however, was so much more gratifying.

"I need the ring for a spell. The day Damon died was a glitch in the grand design. It wasn't supposed to happen. The spell sets back time to where it all went wrong," she explained.

"Sounds dangerous," Stefan said. "It doesn't sound possible."

"I won't make it. The power it takes to do the spell will kill me. I know what I have to do." Bonnie said it stoically, a heaviness descended upon the cemetery. Elena had reservations. Unease shifted her body language.

"You can't do that," she said. "We're not all unhappy with the way things turned out. I have a husband, two beautiful girls."

Bonnie looked at her quizzically, unable to process what her former best friend had said. It dawned on her that not having Elena on side could be a huge problem. Judging by the look on his face Stefan had come to the same conclusion.

"Go." Bonnie told him and Stefan rapidly left.

Elena was affronted, confused and feeling left out, "He's gone to get the ring, Elena. You can't stop this from happening."

"Watch me try." She knew she couldn't beat Stefan to the Lockwood mansion but she had to save her family. She had to try.

* * *

Carol Lockwood let out a small, dainty scream as she saw the shadowy figure in the corner of the room. Her grand children's print was all over the house.

"Tyler!" she called.

The intruder advanced towards Carol and at the revelation of his identity she was literally petrified. Unable to move she saw the cold anger in his eyes. Stefan picked up a photo of Carol's late husband and examined it. He then threw the framed picture at the wall above Carol's head. Carol let out another scream found movement in her body again and cowered.

"What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"I want my brother's ring. The one you stole from him."

"He's dead, Stefan," she replied as if it justified her actions.

Stefan cocked his head to one side, examining her. He had a coldness in his eyes she'd only ever seen in him once or twice and so many other times in Damon. Suddenly he rushed her, "Damon may be rotting in the ground but I am not and it is my right as his blood to have his ring. In what universe do you have the right to steal a dead man's property?" Stefan spat. "I should kill you. You and your grave robbing compatriate."

"Mom?" Tyler stopped dead when he saw Stefan.

Stefan saw the glinting of a precious metal in his hand and seized his opportunity. In a flash he grabbed Carol from behind and bared his teeth against her neck. He just managed to stop short of biting, for now.

"You can have the ring. Just let her go. There's children upstairs. I don't want them to be part of this." Tyler held the ring out before him.

Suddenly the front door burst open, Elena stumbled through it and into Tyler's arms. Stefan tightened his grip and allowed his teeth to graze Carol's slender neck. Tyler listened attentively as Elena spilled her guts about Bonnie's spell.

"You want to erase everything we have just to bring one person back to life?" Tyler was horrified, "You're willing to kill everyone else in the process?"

"You heard Bonnie, Elena. This isn't the way things were supposed to be. Why do you think the witches are involved? This is bigger than just bringing Damon back." Stefan knew that last part was true but he would be a hypocrite if he claimed the greater good to be his motivation. Selfish? Hell yes. "You've kept me waiting for too long."

With that, his teeth entered Carol and sweet blood rushed into his mouth. Euphoria overtook him as pandemonium ensued around him. Strong as he was, Tyler was no match for Stefan. He yanked Stefan back by the hair. Elena ushered her children back up the stairs before catching the limp Carol before she hit the floor. Stefan was in a struggle with Tyler on the floor. He was floundering under the vampire's strength. Tyler was tiring, Stefan could hear it in his ragged breath. Taking his head in his hands Stefan slammed Tyler's head on the floor, thus ending the struggle for good. Stefan prized the ring from Tyler's fingers and stood up. The destruction he'd left around him upset the most human part of him but if he didn't get the spell complete then all of tonight's deaths would be pointless.

"You're a monster," Elena sobbed as he stood up, 'I hope you, Bonnie and Damon rot in hell."

Stefan opened the front door and turned briefly to face her, "You used to love me." Closing the door behind, him he headed to the Salvatore Boarding House.

* * *

Bonnie was ready for him when he arrived. She explained the ins and outs of the biggest spell Mystic Falls had ever seen. She knew she had to die. He knew too. The house was like Marie Celeste. Damon's last coffee cup still sat where it was left and Stefan instantly realised why he hadn't returned.

"Stefan. They're just memories. Don't let them get to you. Not now," Bonnie encouraged.

She started chanting and then asked for the rings. Stefan handed the daylight rings over. They were vibrating with power like they never had before. When a malevolent presence started rushing around the room Stefan knew exactly who it was.

"Zachariah!" Stefan exclaimed terrified that he'd be thwarted at the last hurdle.

At this point Bonnie's nose was streaming, "Hold on, Stefan. We can do this. Damon, Emily help us!"

As she said it her body started to fall. Whether it were accidental or the doing of Damon or Emily a stake flew at him. Deftly catching it Stefan completed the spell by thrusting it into his heart.

* * *

The blackness started to lift. Elena's warm smile greeted him. Relief however was short lived when a very possessed Damon walked into The Grill with murder in mind. Bonnie's spell may have worked but he still had to rid Damon of Zachariah's possession...


	9. The End

**Hope you enjoyed this story. See you soon, people. X :-) **

Back at The Boarding House Stefan tightened the chain binding Zachariah to the chair. It seemed that his younger brother was staging a passive protest. He had no plans to give Damon back. All of this to punish Stefan. He, Elena, Bonnie and Tyler were at a loss. Even The Original Siblings had no idea how to dispossess someone without killing them. He had to give Rebekah, Klaus and Elijah their due they had helped him in many a sticky spot, in this lifetime and the one just passed.

"Bonnie, what do we do?" he said despairing. "I've been through too much to fail now."

The last part seemed cryptic to everyone but Stefan. Bonnie, however, gave him an odd look. Did she remember? She had been his rock and whether she recalled it or not he was beyond grateful. Before Bonnie could answer Stefan's query an Earth-shattering crack shook everything and everyone.

"What the hell...?" Tyler said as bits of the ceiling were falling. Thankfully it hadn't caved in around them.

"Stefan?" Elena said worriedly, "There's something coming down the stairs."

The delicate footsteps appeared to belong to a woman, looking only slightly older than Damon. Her hair was dark silk matching her floor length dress. It were as if the others didn't exist, she glided right past them to Stefan.

"The hope and love inside you is what brought me here, sweetheart," she said, caressing his cheek. Everyone knew who she was but dared not interrupt this precious moment. She turned her attention to Zachariah who proceeded to spit out a lot of obscenities. Grabbing him by the hair she turned his face to look at her. Her eyes matched Damon's perfectly. Ice stared into ice.

"You. Get out of my son." Her voice boomed on several different frequencies. The voice of a mother protecting her young.

"Make me," Zachariah snapped defiantly.

Stefan thought he saw something suddenly flash in Damon's eyes. A moment of clarity. Judging by her squeezing his hand Elena had noticed it too. So had his mother.

"Damon, my sweet. Come to me. Feel my presence." She pleaded.

"What's happening?" Tyler asked after a few moments.

The matriarchal angel turned toward the group, a defeated look on her beautiful face. Elena marvelled at how her cold eyes could look so warm. How much Damon looked like her. She found herself wondering how old he must have been when she died. Had Stefan any memories of her at all? She suddenly felt lucky to have had her parents as long as she did.

"He's not strong enough," Bonnie answered the question, "Is he?"

"No," the angel replied.

"Yes. He's strong enough. He's Damon, of course he is!" Stefan said, Elena's supportive presence kept him from total meltdown.

"Stefan, hush now," his mother said softly. "Your brother is possessed by a powerful spirit. The longer its in him the more it destroys his soul."

"There must be something we can do," Elena hoped.

In their discussion they had failed to notice the tears of blood now running down Damon's cheeks.

"Oh my god," Bonnie muttered.

As his mother wiped the blood from his cheeks she whispered something in his ear and kissed the top of his head. For a second, Stefan thought she had given up. Was she whispering a goodbye?

"What did you tell him?" Stefan asked now at the other side of his brother with a hand on his shoulder.

"Stefan hold his hand," she replied, ignoring his question. She directed the entire group to link hands. "This is going to be painful but with all of your energy combined I hope it'll ease the pain."

"What are you going to do?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm going to reach inside him and pull the damned thing out."

The angel reached into Damon's chest but no blood was spilled. It was more like her hand was going into water. Damon's beautiful face began to contort and twist. Murmers of discomfort quickly turned into screams of pain.

"I'm sorry, Damon. I am so sorry," His mother said, her own pain seeping out in crystalline tears, "If I could take the pain for you I would."

Everyone in the room felt a fraction of the seering chest pain. Tyler almost let go of Bonnie's hand but she squeezed harder and clung on. And then it was over.

Stefan hastily undid the chains and helped Damon to his feet. Wobbly at first he stood his ground. The sight of his mother was a shock enough but the vision of her like a warrior princess was like a hallucination. She held a fizzing, buzzing ball of light in one fist and proceeded to snuff it out. Snuff out Zachariah.

"This is trippy..." he managed but the world was becoming distant and faint. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed in Stefan and Tyler's waiting arms.

* * *

With the panic mostly over the group dispersed. Tyler and Bonnie went home. Elena remained in the house but well out of the Salvatore's unconventional family reunion.

"What do we do now?" Stefan asked his mother. They stood in Damon's bedroom where Stefan and Tyler had laid him on his bed.

"Not 'we', my love," she said.

Stefan looked like an injured puppy, "but I need your help. Damon needs your help."

She picked up Stefan's hand and held it. She was so warm. "You don't need my help anymore. You're what brought me here, Stefan. Your desperation to help Damon drew me to you. I may have pulled that spirit right out of him but it was you who truly saved him."

Stefan could no longer hold the tears that were burning his eyes. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, to no avail. Everything aside, he barely remembered his mother, her beauty, her warmth, her love. He couldn't face losing her again.

"Come now, dry those tears," she caught one with her index finger as it trickled down his cheek.

Stefan took a deep breath and tried to suppress his sorrow. He turned his gaze to Damon, "Will he wake up?"

"Eventually." She paused as Stefan whipped his head around to face her, searching her face for the answers he hoped for, "Relax. He'll come back to you in his own sweet time. That spirit crushed his soul, Stefan. Give him time to rest."

Stefan could feel her distancing from him. Grabbing her by the shoulders he pleaded with her once more to stay.

"I love you both so much, Stefan," she said followed by a mother's tender kiss. She wandered serenly over to the bed and crouched down. She stroked Damon's forehead and Stefan realised that it was as hard for her to leave as it was for him to watch her go.

"Bye, baby." She gave her eldest one last kiss and with a wall shaking crack she was gone.

* * *

Over the weeks that Damon remained inert Stefan went through every emotion possible. He went from worry and anguish to denial, regret and then to anger. Anger at Damon, at himself, at their mother. At the world. Unless his brother woke Stefan feared his feelings would consume him. They would send him into a downward spiral that he'd fail to return from. Elena Gilbert was what saved him though. On the nights she slept in his bed next to him he was comforted and loved. He had entered the events of the 'other lifetime' in his journal and locked them away tight in the dark corner of his mind.

Between them all they did everything they could to wake Damon. Stefan sat beside him every humanly possibly moment, Bonnie cast spells, Elena tried traditional methods as well as trying to feed him her blood and even Tyler came by a few times, Tyler surprised everyone. He felt invested in the situation, a part of something despite how warped it was.

Months had passed although Damon had no idea of that. His eyes fluttered open. He was alone in his room. Light from the windows nearly blinding him. He rolled onto his side and put his feet on the floor. So far so good.

Judging by the voice coming from downstairs, Stefan was there.

"I think he will remain this way, Elena. Its been too long. Bonnie was right. I have to move on," Damon got excited that Elena was there. He didn't remember many details of the time just passed but he did know that her blood had been sustaining him. He was grateful; not just to her but all of them.

"No Elena, I have to let him go." As it turned out, Stefan was on the phone. He was distracted. Damon saw an opportunity. He picked up a book from the shelf and aimed it at his brother's head. Stefan swore when the book landed on target. Mission accomplished, Damon thought. When Stefan turned around to face him Damon greeted him with a blinding smile.

"Move on, Stefan? Really? I'm hurt, Brother."

"Elena, I'll call you back," Stefan said picking his jaw up off the floor.

When Stefan got to his feet and hugged him, Damon considered throwing him off in a demonstration of masculinity. What stopped him was the anguish he felt being let go. It was a relief he'd felt from his little brother when he'd returned safe from battle in the civil war.

"I missed you so much," Stefan said pulling back.

"What happened?"

Stefan clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Buy me a drink, Brother and I'll tell you everything."

With that, they left the house intent on debauchery, alcohol, blood and brotherhood.


End file.
